


Love Will Come To You

by rhysiana



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Derek Hale Deserves Nice Things, M/M, Not All Prophecies Have to Be Bad, The Danger of Fairy Rings
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-10
Updated: 2017-08-10
Packaged: 2018-12-13 19:18:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,311
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11766591
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rhysiana/pseuds/rhysiana
Summary: The last thing Derek saw as he stumbled over the edge of the fairy ring was Stiles’ horrified eyes and his desperately reaching hand.***In which Derek Hale travels into Faerie and, for once in his life, receives some good news.





	Love Will Come To You

**Author's Note:**

> A fic vaguely inspired by “Love Will Come to You” by the Indigo Girls.

“Derek!”

The last thing Derek saw as he stumbled over the edge of the fairy ring was Stiles’ horrified eyes and his desperately reaching hand.

~*~*~

There was no moment of blackness or vertigo or flash of light, just an immediate disappearance of the Preserve as soon as his feet crossed the line. Stiles would have been disappointed by the lack of drama, he thought distractedly as he tried to orient himself. He was still in a forest, but the trees were larger, far more ancient, covered in moss and twilit even at midday under the dense canopy. Well, assuming it was actually midday here. Time could do anything in Faerie. He drew in a sharp breath at the realization years could have already passed, even though he’d only been here for a few seconds at most. He was so screwed.

Well, that was nothing new. He sighed and turned in a slow circle, taking in his new surroundings.

He was in a small clearing under the trees, and somewhere off to the side, he could hear running water, like a small stream or maybe a spring. The air felt heavy and still, no calls of birds or insects to disturb it. At the other side of the clearing, in deeper shadows, was a cave.

Something moved just inside the cave opening. Derek caught the rustling of cloth.

“Hello?” a soft voice called.

Against his better judgment, he moved toward the cave. “Hello,” he replied. There was real risk in insulting the fae, but as a response, that seemed safe enough.

A figure appeared at the entrance to the cave: a woman with skin so pale it was nearly translucent, dressed in fluttering layers of gray that reminded Derek of a moth, with long, long silver hair. As he drew closer, he noticed with a start that her eyes were completely white.

She turned her head in the direction of his steps, not quite focusing directly on him, and he made an effort to make a bit more noise. It seemed only polite.

“Man,” she said. “You should not be here.”

He swallowed down hysterical laughter. “It was an accident. There was a battle, I was forced back, and I entered the circle.”

Her long, elegant fingers fluttered in front of her, reading the air, if he was any judge. He held his breath, hoping against hope she wasn’t some sort of evil witch or whatever. Fairy rings were supposed to be prisons, after all. _Oh god_. How was he ever going to get out of here?

“Do not despair, man. You do not belong here. You will return to your place,” the woman said with utter certainty.

“You’re a seer,” Derek realized with a start.

She inclined her head. “Come,” she said, gesturing into the cave. “Will you take tea?”

Derek knew better than to eat or drink in Faerie, but before he could think of a suitably polite way to decline, she continued, “Freely given, without obligation. No harm will come to you here.”

Derek believed her. He accepted the tea with a murmured “thank you.” It was good. Despite himself, despite how panicked he knew he should be about the situation, he relaxed.

Then a thought occurred to him. “Are you… are you being held here? You said I will go back, but can I do something to take you with me? Do you need help?”

She threw back her head and laughed. It chimed like bells. “A brave and generous offer, but no. This is not my prison, but my sanctuary. The visions, when I am around other people, they drive me mad.” She smiled, looking utterly serene. “I stopped an assassination in the Faerie Court and my liege promised me a boon. He raged when this was my request, but the Queen was witness. He could not refuse.” She sighed happily. “I have lived alone a very long time.”

Derek drew back in alarm. “Am I hurting you? I can leave.”

She waved her hand in elegant negation. “Please do not concern yourself.” She cocked her head to the side, considering. “Whatever pain I may feel from my visions is nothing compared to what you carry. Why do you hold yourself apart? You feel… you feel as if you are always outside, looking in, even with your close companions. Your pack? Yes, your pack. They care for you. Why do you not let them?”

Derek swallowed and looked away, blinking rapidly. “It’s better this way. Everyone I love dies. Maintaining distance is… better.”

“No,” she said, and her hand shot out unerringly to grab his wrist. Firmly. He wasn’t sure he could have broken her grip if he tried. As he stared at her in shock, mist swirled across the surface of her white eyes. When she spoke again, her voice rang, reverberating like a gong, full of unmistakable portent.

“Love will come to you. And when it does, you must not turn it away, because it will make you stronger than you can know. It will be bright and lasting and beautiful.” She released his wrist. “Hobble yourself no more.”

He looked down at his wrist, expecting to see bands of bruising, but there was nothing but the lingering feeling of the surety of her grip. “I don’t…” he trailed off, thoughts flying in too many directions at once.

She smiled at him again, as calm and unruffled as if nothing had happened, as if she hadn’t reached into the center of Derek’s deepest, darkest fear, that he would never find love again after all the deaths he’d lived through already, and crumbled it to dust in her hand. His body still echoed with the unshakable truth of her words, down to his bones. He’d never felt anything like it.

She rose gracefully. “And now it is time I returned you to your world.” She led him back across the clearing to the small circle of moss-covered stones marking the point where he’d arrived. She leaned forward and brushed a feather-light kiss along his cheekbone. “Let him love you, Derek,” she whispered.

And then she planted one elegant hand on his chest and pushed him.

~*~*~

He stumbled straight into Stiles arms as he reappeared in the Preserve. Stiles immediately gripped him tight against his chest and yanked them both backwards, away from the circle.

“Derek! Oh my god!” Stiles’ eyes were wild, his hands frantic as he ran them over Derek’s back and arms, trying to check him for injury without relinquishing his hold. His heartbeat pounded in Derek’s ears. “Holy shit, I thought we lost you. Thank god you came back through.”

“How long was I gone?”

“Less than a minute,” Scott said from behind Stiles.

Derek gripped Stiles’ shoulder in a way he hoped was comforting, grounding. “It was a little longer for me.”

Stiles’ eyes widened in alarm all over again. “Did you eat anything? Drink anything? We need to get back to the loft, start looking up counter-charms—”

_Let him love you, Derek,_ whispered through his mind again and he felt a tiny blossom of warmth start to open in the middle of his chest as he listened to Stiles immediately launch into plans of how to save him yet again. He pulled Stiles into a firm hug, cutting off the flow of words. After a second, Stiles’ arms came up around him, too. “It’s fine, Stiles. I promise. It’s all going to be fine.”

Stiles drew back and studied Derek’s face seriously. He must have believed whatever he saw, because after a few seconds, he nodded. “Yeah, okay.” He stepped back from Derek’s embrace, but ran a hand down one of Derek’s arms until he caught his hand. “Let’s get out of here.”

Derek returned his grasp. He didn’t let go of Stiles hand the whole way back to the cars.

**Author's Note:**

> Photo by me, taken at the John C. Campbell Folk School in the mountains of North Carolina, if you were wondering. (It's actually a labyrinth, not a fairy ring, but I'm still not going to step into it.)
> 
> Yes, I am on the [Tumblr](https://rhysiana.tumblr.com).


End file.
